


Sacrifice

by astargatelover



Series: 120 [1]
Category: Stargate Universe
Genre: Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-30
Updated: 2015-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-18 04:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4691225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astargatelover/pseuds/astargatelover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where the science team argues about who goes to tell Rush they fucked up (a little).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sacrifice

"So who goes?"

Eli looked around himself expectantly. He, Chloe, Volker and Brody were standing on a clearing, a small pile of clay shards in their midst. 

"She broke it" Volker said, looking at Chloe. 

"I did not!" came the exasperated reply. 

"It would still be whole if you hadn't thrown that... thing... at me!" Eli argued, referring to one of the squishy, fist-sized white balls that were lying around on the planet. 

Their tests had shown that they were some kind of fruit, but they had close to 0 nutritional value, so the science team concentrated on studying the ruins left behind by the alien civilization that had lived here and apparently studied the stargates.

"You should have just caught it!" Chloe responded. "How should I know that your coordination is that bad?"

"Because you've known me for over a year?!" Eli retorted. "It's not that hard to notice!"

The two glared at each other.

Volker held up a hand. "Anyway, I'm not going" he said. "Rush hates me as it is." 

Eli regarded him before avoiding his eyes and saying: "Well, you were technically the last one to touch it..." 

"Oh, what, because I caught it and it broke apart in my hands? No, no, you can't pin this on me! I had less to do with this than the three of you!" 

He pointed at all of them.

"Why me?!" Brody piped up. 

"You fell against it" Eli explained. 

"You fell against me!" Brody replied. "I'm not taking the blame!" 

"Okay, guys, guys, guys!" Chloe held up her hands in a conciliatory way. 

"If we continue like this we'll never be able to decide who will go and tell Rush that we broke the tablet!"

"You broke the tablet" Volker repeated. "So you should go and tell him!" 

"But I ca-an't!" Chloe pouted. 

"Why not?" the men asked almost at once. 

"Because I want to go to Becker's birthday party next week! Rush will never let me if he finds out I did this!"

The other three groaned. The task of entering the lion's den had just gotten even more unpleasant, because they all wanted to attend that party, and Rush had made it clear to them that he'd only accept none of them working that night if they did their very best in the time leading up to it. 

"Why don't you go?" Brody asked Eli. "You're basically his pet." 

"Am not!" the addressed one replied, crossing his arms. "Besides, I think he's still not over the mistake I made in my calculations a few days ago." 

"Is the Boy Wonder only human, after all?" Volker mocked him. 

"I was dead tired, okay?!" Eli defended himself. "And why don't you go?" he said, turning to Brody. "You get along with him pretty well most of the time."

"Yeeah" the engineer admitted, "but I spent most of my last shift at the still. I think he wasn't too happy about that..." 

"I thought he's fine with that stuff?" Chloe inquired. 

Brody laughed. 

"Yeah, if it's a shift Young has assigned me to, not if it was Rush himself."

There was a short silence during which all eyes landed on Volker. 

"Don't look at me!" he said. "I could give him the solution to our power struggles on a silver platter and he'd still think of me as an idiot, he'll have a fit if I tell him about this!" he argued, gesticulating at the pile between them.

"Maybe we should draw straws?" Eli suggested after another short pause. 

When he got no negative reply, he quickly broke a twig off a nearby tree and reduced it to four small pieces, one shorter than the others. He held them in his closed hands and nodded towards the others, who all pulled one out. 

Volker was left with the shortest one. 

"Come on!" he exclaimed, a hint of desperation in his voice. "Really?!" 

Eli gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, man. Rule of the straw. ... twig." He shrugged awkwardly.

Volker ran a hand through his hair, sighed and was about to turn to leave when Brody grabbed him by the wrist. 

"Wait." He took Volker's piece of branch and gave him his own. "I'll do it."

Volker gave him an astonished look. 

"Really? But... you won't be able to go to the party." 

Brody shrugged. "So what? It won't be the last one. Besides, if you informed him of this, Rush would rip your head off. He won't do that to me! ...Probably. I can stand one more night working with him." 

He smiled before leaving to look for their head scientist, mentally bracing himself for the inevitable volcano eruption. 

"Brody?" Volker called after him. 

He turned back around. 

"What?" 

His best friend grinned at him. 

"Thank you for your sacrifice!"


End file.
